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Rhys Butler

Combine songs about teenage love affairs and riff heavy choruses and you’ll get the majority of young bands these days. Add the energy and connection of two brothers, anthemic tunes and support from the likes of This Feeling, Hot Vox and Soundhub Studios and you’ll get Rhys Butler, brother Liam Butler and brother from another mother Sam Deas – aka Leicestershire’s three-piece indie rock band The Lids. The Lids have been making all the right noises recently, being dubbed as ones to watch in Leicestershire, playing Tramlines and Y Not Festival and recently announcing new single“Delectable”, which dropped on the 20th April.

Your new single “Delectable” is due to be released on the 20th April. How are you feeling about getting new music out there?

It’s very exciting for us because the song is completely different to anything we’ve done before and there are so many more elements to it for people to enjoy, so yeah it’s very exciting and we’ve also got two more all recorded so we can’t wait to bring them out too.

What’s the story behind the single?

It started with Liam just playing around with bass riffs at first and then he brought what he had to practise, and over time we added the guitar and drums and eventually the synth until we thought it sounded good enough to record.

Who did you work with for the accompanying music video, and where was it shot?

We worked with a videographer called Marcus Langford. He’s local to us but he’s done an absolutely mad job on the video we’re really happy with it. It was all shot locally to us as well because we knew a fair few places that would work with the theme of the video, but Marcus knew exactly what to do as soon as we decided where to go so it all worked really well.

Can you tell me about your writing process, and how you work together to create the final track?

We have an unwritten rule in practise whereby if anyone says “let’s write a song”, we go back and play our normal set list because it never seems to work as well as if its more natural. Liam or Rhys will play a riff they’ve thought up and if it sounds good we’ll try and build on it. We don’t know why but that’s just how it works!

Are you looking to release an EP or album in the near future?

Erm, hopefully yeah! We’ve got songs recorded and we’re always trying to write more and find new sounds that work so yeah an EP or album is definitely in the pipeline.

Which bands have inspired your stage presence, and are there any bands you model yourselves on? You’re penned as giving some of the most high-energy performances.

There aren’t really any bands in particular, we just feel that if we look like we’re enjoying it then hopefully that has an effect on the crowd, and they can enjoy it with us!

You’ve been discovered by Christian Fuchs and collaborated with him on his clothing range #NoFuchsGiven. How did the opportunity come about, and what have you been working on?

We met Christian at a meet and greet in Leicester and we got onto the topic of the band and played him a couple of tracks and he really like our stuff, and was keen to work with us! It was unbelievable for a guy of his calibre and a company as big as NoFuchsGiven to want to work with us, but it’s a good thing we’ve got going, it’s just about promoting each other as much as possible and helping each other out.

It’s great to hear another Leicestershire band doing so well. What are your thoughts on the local music scene, and are there any venues in particular you enjoy performing at?

Leicester’s music scene is jammed with seriously talented acts that can go a very long way, so it’s great for us to be a part of something that’s created so many great musicians. The O2 venues are always amazing to play because you’re playing to a lot more people than usual, and the sound quality is amazing, but then so is The Cookie on Leicester High Street because it’s so well known not just locally but further a field too, and you always get a great reception when playing there which is why it still attracts huge names.

Do you have any recommendations of other local bands or artists to watch out for?

There’s so many yes, there’s Easy Life, who have completely blown up and are completely different to anything you’ve heard before but have quite rightly taken the local music scene by storm! There’s Magique too who again are creating a new and fresh sound for people to enjoy and again absolutely killing it! There’s so many it’s great to be a part of it, with our good pals from Arcades too it’s pretty exciting for everyone!

What’s the ultimate aim for the band and where do you hope your music will take you?

We’ve always said Glastonbury would be pretty cool! Aside from festival hopes and big gig hopes we’d like to release a full album at some point that would be amazing, but it’s not something we’re going to rush because when we do release our first album we want it to be as good as we can make it.